


three hundred sixty-five

by ariquitecontrary



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: 5x03 Ending Rewrite, F/M, One Year Later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:07:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29211675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariquitecontrary/pseuds/ariquitecontrary
Summary: After one year, Betty and Jughead come back.
Relationships: Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Comments: 14
Kudos: 89





	three hundred sixty-five

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't even watched the episode yet, because I don't want to be sad, but I've seen all the clips and I'm STILL sad anyway, so here! Have this. (( Because it totally should have Betty who walked inside at the end. )) 
> 
> This was written in the span of an hour, so uh... yeah. Enjoy!

Sometimes, when he’s all alone and the world is quiet around him, Jughead Jones likes to wonder what his friends have been up to in the past year since he’s seen them. 

For him, things have been pretty decent for once. College is both everything and nothing like he thought it would be. He feels free when he’s there, in a way that he never has before. He’s made a few good friends, and a lot of really nice acquaintances. Instead of feeling like an outsider everywhere he goes, he finally feels like he might belong somewhere. It’s a nice feeling, one that’s rare to him, and he relaxes a little--stops looking at the world like it has a personal vendetta against him, and instead looks at it with a newfound optimism. Because of that, he became the first freshman in _years_ to have their work put in the school’s newspaper, which had been a very big deal and it was all because of his hard work; _his_. When he thinks about that, he hopes that his friends are doing okay too.

There’s social media, of course, but he’s found that all of them seem to have eased off of the unnecessary posting that they used to be obsessed with back in highschool. Hell, he hasn’t made a post in over three months and that had been about his coffee spilling all over his new jacket. Nothing that actually mattered to anyone. So while he knows that Archie is currently stationed in Fort Sill, he isn’t sure what unit he’s under. He pictures him going into the ADA branch, and smiles to himself. Archie always had been a badass when it came down to things. He wonders how he’s doing; if he’s finally found someone to talk to, to confide in. Jughead wishes now, more than anything, that he could have been a better friend to Archie. He had tried, and he knows that he was a good friend, a loyal and trustworthy one, but he wasn’t always there when Archie had needed him. Archie had suffered alone for so long, not wanting to hurt the people around him, and Jughead knows it took a toll on him. He just hopes things are better now.

And Veronica’s having a lot of tea dates and club outings with various girlfriends, and one guy who looks like he belongs on the cover of Vogue, but Jughead has no idea what she’s majoring in or how she’s doing mentally, which he’s found is something he worries about. Sure, they were never really that good of friends, but she had still been something, _someone_ to him. And he had worried about her back then, but he never noticed it until now, because back then she’d been in his life and he could easily talk to her or help her if she needed it. She’s not in his life now, though. And he can’t help but notice that sometimes she doesn’t look as happy in her pictures as she used to, even if she tries her hardest to act like she is. 

When he thinks of Betty, though, his chest tightens and it feels like he can’t breathe anymore. Even after a year, he still hasn’t moved on. He thought that he had, he thought that he would be okay without her by his side, but he found very early on that he had been wrong. Betty had been the biggest part of his life for so long. From the moment they met as children, she’d become a permanent fixture in his life. She’s in every happy childhood memory that he has, the ones that he holds closest to his heart, he can’t escape her even if he wanted to. He’s not so sure that he wants to anymore, though. 

Betty’s always been the least active on social media out of all of them, and that hasn’t changed in college. So far she’s made exactly two posts in the last year. The first one had been on Halloween. She was at a party with a new group of friends who looked like they were the exact opposite of Jughead, Archie, and Veronica. She’d been wearing a ripped sweater that was clearly supposed to be Freddy Kruger’s and simple black jeans. It was such a Betty costume to wear, and he’d been so relieved that she hadn’t changed too much on him. 

The second picture had been a little harder to see, even though it hadn’t actually been anything too horrible. In it, Betty was with two of the people from the Halloween picture; a girl with a buzzcut in a white tank top, black cargo pants, and combat boots, and a boy with shaggy blonde hair wearing what looked like a lacrosse uniform. The girl was showing off her biceps with a grin, clearly joking around for the camera, and the boy was holding Betty on his shoulders. She was laughing in the picture, and despite the fact that his heart had felt like it was breaking all over again, Jughead found himself smiling along with her. She was wearing a jersey that matched the one the boy had on, and she was holding her right hand up in the air with her pointer finger raised towards the sky in victory.

The caption had read: **Bulldogs for the win! (Also, River is single for any lovely ladies who are interested. Yes, they made me post this. Yes, they are threatening to crush me with their biceps for adding that last part.)**

It made Jughead laugh the first time he read it. It was such a silly, fun thing to post and he’d realized, with a shock, that he was surprised to see that Betty had been the one to post such a thing. There had been a time when making lighthearted jokes and playing around with their friends had been something they couldn’t even imagine. They’d all been through some dark shit in highschool, but Jughead thinks that maybe Betty might have gotten it worse than them in some aspects; not all of them, but some. He hadn’t realized back then, but she’d lost that spark in her that used to be so prominent when they were kids. She didn’t laugh like she used to, didn’t joke around or goof off. She’d become so serious; all business and no nonsense. It had seemed normal back then, because they were all kind of like that, but he hadn’t realized just how bad it actually was until he saw those two pictures. 

Sometimes he wonders if she was ever actually happy with him. 

It’s a fleeting thought that he tries to push away to the furthest part of his mind. He knows that she had been happy with him. Maybe she wasn’t always, maybe she stopped somewhere towards the end, but they’d been happy and in love once. It had been clear as crystal in the way that they had touched each other; leaving lingering kisses over one another as they whispered quiet promises into the still night. It had been in the way they knew each other, inside and out; the way they would have done anything for the other, just to make sure they were safe and happy. He doesn’t know why it had to change, but maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe what matters is that at one point in time, he and Betty had been in love. And it was beautiful. 

Things are different now. They haven’t talked, unless they’re saying ‘happy birthday’ or wishing each other a Merry Christmas. They had drifted apart and neither of them knew how to fix it. He once thought that maybe some distance would fix things; maybe they could at least work on being friends, but that was just as much of a pipedream as the thought of one day being with her again. They didn’t know what to talk about anymore. They let the wedge between them grow and now they didn’t know how to find their way back to each other. Maybe that’s just how their story ends. 

He takes a sip of his now lukewarm coffee and grimaces. 

No. He refuses to believe that’s how any of their stories end. This isn’t the end for any of them; they’ve been through too much together, suffered too much together, to just forget about each other this soon. Jughead misses them every single day. He thinks about them all the time, constantly worried, constantly feeling the urge to just reach out and talk to them again, but he’s scared. None of them have tried to reach out to him. Was he that easy to forget? Had they ever even cared about him? 

Didn’t they miss him too? 

The door to Pop’s opens for what feels like the millionth time that day. The bell dings and Jughead, despite knowing better, looks up from his cold, empty plate and turns around. It shouldn’t come as such a surprise, but still, his heart falls when he sees that it’s just a random old lady and not his friends. 

One year. They had promised each other one year, but none of them came. It’s just him; just like it always is in this town. He’s been alone for so long, that it shouldn’t even bother him anymore, but he can’t help the sadness that builds inside of him as he realizes that they’re not going to show up. 

“Another refill, Jug?” Pop’s voice pulls him out of his thoughts and Jughead turns towards the man with a confused expression, almost as if he’d forgotten that he’s here. Pop looks at him with a sympathetic smile and Jughead wishes that he didn’t come tonight. 

He clears his throat as he looks down at his forgotten drink. “Uh, no. I’m good. Think it’s time I take off.” He tries to get the words out like they aren’t killing him to say, but he can tell from the look on Pop’s face that he’s doing a pretty shitty job. 

“I’m sorry they didn’t make it,” he tells him. “They’re probably just busy.” 

Pop is trying to make him feel better, Jughead can tell, but for some reason the words just hurt even more. They were so busy that they couldn’t even spare a moment to text Jughead and let him know that they couldn’t come. He has to refrain from letting out a condescending laugh at that, because if he wants to be realistic about it, they probably just didn’t remember. It’s that simple. He was always so easy to forget, so why would this be any different? He should have known better. 

“Yeah,” he says. “Probably.” He pushes the coffee away and tugs on his jacket. He needs to get out of here before he does something stupid like cry over a piece of pie about how his friends don’t love him anymore. 

When he stands up, and the bell goes off again, it doesn’t hurt him as much when he sees a young, happy couple walk into the diner together. He just feels numbs. This is where their story ends. It had been open-ended before, a slight question of what could happen when they finally met up again after a year. Would Archie and Veronica do that weird pining thing before ultimately going home with each other? Because they know that they’re supposed to be together; they just need time to figure it out. Would he and Betty finally work through all their awkwardness with the help of their two closest friends? Would they _finally_ be able to talk normally again? Would Jughead be able to tell her that he made a mistake? That he hasn’t stopped thinking about her, that he still loves her? 

It doesn’t matter now. 

The story has finally ended; it ended the day Betty left him standing on the porch of her childhood home, suitcase in her hand and unshed tears in her eye. He should have known it then, but he was hopeful. He was stupid. 

He just hopes that she’s happy. That’s all he’s ever wanted for her, for all of them. 

The walk out of Pop’s feels like the long walk to his death, and maybe, in a strange way, it is. Once he walks out of here, out of this town, he doesn’t know if he’ll ever come back. There’s nothing left for him here; no one to come back for. This is where he finally lets go of everything in his past; all the anger, the hurt, the heartbreak. Everything that was Riverdale will stay in Riverdale, and that includes the person he used to be. It includes Betty and everything they once had. Like his once beloved beanie, their memories will stay buried away in this town. 

He takes one last look towards Pop and waves a final goodbye before he pushes open the door to the diner and steps outside. He fumbles around in his pocket for his keys and looks up once he’s found them, so that he can finally get the hell out of here once and for all. 

But as he looks up, the keys fall from his hand and clatter to the ground as he’s met with a familiar face. 

“Hi,” Betty Cooper says softly. She’s standing in the middle of the parking lot, just a mere ten feet from him, and Jughead’s heart starts to race uncomfortably fast in his chest. Her hair is flowing lightly with the gentle wind, and Jughead notices that it seems to have grown in the past year, as if she’s decided to stop cutting it frequently. It looks nice on her, even makes her seem a little older. She’s still so beautiful, and he’s still in love with her. 

She moves forward like she wants to embrace him, but stops herself at the last minute. “Am I too late? I took a train and it ended up taking a lot longer than it should’ve, and my phone died so I couldn’t text you.” She holds up her dead phone to him as evidence. “I was hoping you’d still be here. I didn’t want to miss you.”

When he doesn’t say anything, when he just continues to stare at her blankly, her face falls and her hand drops back to her side. 

“Right, of course,” she says with a shaky laugh. “I’m too late. I’m sorry, Jug--.” 

“No.” His voice cuts her off and she looks at him with something that looks a lot like hope. “No, Betty. You’re right on time.” 

He finally smiles at her, feeling all the anger and hurt from the last five years gradually wash off of him, and in its place is a light happiness that he hasn’t felt in so long. Betty’s face completely lights up at the expression, and he opens his arms for her. It doesn’t even take her a full second before she’s running into his arms, throwing herself against him so hard that the two of them stumble back slightly. They laugh as Jughead regains his footing before wrapping Betty up in his arms. 

“You came,” he breathes out, like he can’t believe it, because well, he can’t. He’d thought that was it for them. He’d been so ready to give up, but he should have known that his Betty would never do that to him. 

“Of course I did,” she says against his chest. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” 

“Betty,” he says, pulling away from her so that he can look at her face. Not wanting to completely let go of her, he takes both of her hands into his and holds them tightly. Betty looks shocked by the action, but she doesn’t make a move to pull away. “Betty, I…” 

He wants to tell her the truth, but for some reason he’s terrified. To say it now, to just blurt out that he’s still in love with her and that he still wants her, it feels like too much. It’s been a year, and they’ve both changed at least a little in that time frame. They aren’t completely different people, but they aren’t the same anymore. Jughead wants to learn who Betty is now. He wants to take things slow with her, and rebuild their relationship into something stronger than it ever was before. He doesn’t want the past to repeat itself, which means they both have some things they need to work on. If she even wants the same thing, that is. 

“Betty, I still…” 

“Me too,” she says, cutting him off as she realizes that he doesn’t really know how to say what he wants. She gets it though, because she’s Betty Cooper and he’s Jughead Jones and they know each other like the back of their hands.

She smiles up at him and squeezes his hands in comfort. “Me too, Jughead. Always.” 

“Still?” He questions, not really believing it. The Betty in those pictures had been so happy at Yale while she was surrounded by all her new friends. It’s hard to imagine that she could have spent the past year missing and loving him too. 

“I never stopped,” she says, misty eyed, bringing them both back to a similar conversation they had once upon a time. “I’m not sure I can, but I know one thing for sure.” 

“What?” 

“I never _want_ to stop.” She sniffles quietly. “And I don’t want to lose you again.” 

“Betty…” his voice trails off as the two of them stand there in the middle of the diner’s parking lot, holding onto each other’s hands for dear life and finally feeling like everything is falling into place again. 

They have a lot to talk about, starting with all the things they hadn’t wanted to discuss a year ago. There’s a lot that they need to figure out and work on. They can’t immediately fall back into a relationship, and that’s okay. Jughead knows that they have to take it slower this time if they want a real shot at making it, but he isn’t worried about it at all. 

After three hundred and sixty-five days without her, Jughead knows he’ll do anything to make sure that this time they get it right.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed this, let me know what you think. <3
> 
> find me on tumblr @ aresaphrodites


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